Then it wouldn't be something China-specific

The few times where there is a third, better than 1st class on train, I've always seen it marketed as "Business"

The Austrian Railways, which also have a better class above 1st class call it - TADA - Business class as well

http://www.oebb.at/en/leistungen-und...komfortklassen

I think this has partially to do with international tickets and contracts (less so in the case of China, but probably also influenced by it) - train operators sell 2nd and 1st class tickets over various channels, they couldn't rename them to 3rd/2nd class suddenly.

After all, the 2nd class on a HSR otherwise being named "3rd class" would still be the same than a train having only two classes "2nd" class.

Only if EVERY train would have three classes, they could call it 1st/2nd/3rd, like it used to be long time ago in Europe (when they stopped 1st class service, 2nd became 1st, 3rd become 2nd)

So, if you've a product that is more a "niche" rather than a company-wide rolled out product, it does make sense not to rename all products.

Otherwise suddenly there would be plenty of trains sporting only 2nd and 3rd class waggons - don't tell me that wouldn't be irritating..

People booking "Business Class" on HSR know well what kind of product they're getting and that it's superior to 1st class (since it's more expensive, it's just logical anyway )